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BFNA Title: Chryso-hypnum |
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XX. CHRYSO-HYPNUM Hampe, Bot. Zeitung ( William
R. Buck Mittenothamnium
sect. Pseudo-microthamnium (Brotherus)
Wijk & Margadant Plants
mostly small, sometimes medium-sized, in soft, dark-green to golden, often
extensive, dense mats. Stems
creeping, prostrate, with rhizoids all along the underside, freely and
irregularly to regularly pinnately branched, the branches mostly simple,
short, blunt, densely foliate; in cross-section without a hyalodermis, with
small thick-walled cells surrounding larger thinner-walled cells, central
strand small or absent; pseudoparaphyllia foliose; axillary hairs with 1--3 short
brown basal cells and 1--2 +/- elongate, hyaline, brown distal cells. Leaves of stems and branches similar,
erect- to wide-spreading, soft, mostly ovate, +/- abruptly short- to
long-acuminate, sometimes concave, seldom plicate, not or scarcely decurrent;
margins serrulate, often throughout, plane to erect or recurved; costa short
and double; cells linear, prorulose at distal and sometimes proximal ends
abaxially, rarely smooth, often firm-walled, becoming shorter and broader
toward the insertion; alar cells few in extreme angles, quadrate to
short-rectangular. Specialized asexual
reproduction none. Sexual
condition mostly autoicous, rarely dioicous; perichaetial leaves erect,
lanceolate, gradually long-acuminate; margins sparsely serrulate, plane;
costa short and double or none; cells linear to linear-flexuose, smooth or
low-prorulose, thin- to firm-walled, becoming shorter and broader toward the
insertion; alar cells sometimes differentiated in extreme angles. Seta elongate, smooth, reddish,
twisted. Capsule horizontal to
pendent, +/- arcuate, somewhat asymmetric, mostly ovoid to short-cylindric,
usually with a differentiated neck, often constricted below the mouth when
dry; exothecial cells quadrate to short-rectangular, the vertical walls firm,
those of the cross-walls thin and wavy; annulus differentiated; operculum
conic, mostly apiculate; peristome double, exostome teeth shouldered,
bordered, on the front surface cross-striolate below, coarsely papillose
above, trabeculate at back; endostome with a high basal membrane, segments
keeled, perforate, about as long as the teeth, cilia in groups of 1--3. Spores spherical, finely papillose. Calyptra cucullate, mostly sparsely
to densely hairy, rarely naked, smooth. Species ca. 12 (1 in the flora): North America, Central
America, West Indies, South America, Africa, Chryso-hypnum
is here defined by prostrate, soft plants with ovate leaves and cells that
are prorulose at one or both ends. Other differences from Mittenothamnium, from which it is
segregated (W. R. Buck 1984), are the nonstipitate plants, the shorter
capsules with apiculate opercula, and the usually hairy calyptrae. Subsequent
work by N. Nishimura and H. Ando (1986) has verified the value of segregating
Chryso-hypnum from Mittenothamnium. SELECTED REFERENCES
Buck, W. R. 1984. Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on West Indian
Hypnaceae. Brittonia 36: 178--183. Nishimura, N. & H. Ando. 1986. A
revision of some Mittenothamnium
species described from 1.
Chryso-hypnum diminutivum (Hampe) W. R. Buck, Brittonia 36:
182. 1984. F Hypnum
diminutivum Hampe, Linnaea 20: 86. 1847; Microthamnium diminutivum (Hampe) A. Jaeger; Mittenothamnium diminutivum (Hampe) Plants
in dull, mostly pale- to dark-green, sometimes golden or brown-tinged mats. Stems to ca. 4 cm,; in cross-section
with 2--3 rows of small thick-walled cells surrounding larger thinner-walled
cells, central strand small, of thin-walled nodulose cells; axillary hairs
with a single brown basal cell and a single relatively short hyaline distal
cell. Stem leaves 0.8--1.2 mm,
gradually and narrowly acuminate; costa unequal, one fork often ending
1/3--1/2 the leaf length; cells prorulose at distal and proximal ends
abaxially, firm-walled; alar cells small, quadrate to subquadrate in 6--12
rows in the extreme basal angles. Branch
leaves usually wide-spreading, sometimes more imbricate, lanceolate to
ovate-lanceolate, 0.6--0.9 mm, gradually acuminate, concave; costa unequal,
one fork often ending 1/4--1/3 the leaf length; cells linear to
oblong-linear, conspicuously prorulose at distal and proximal ends abaxially,
firm-walled; alar cells small, quadrate to subquadrate in 4--10 rows in the
extreme basal angles. Sexual condition
autoicous; perichaetial leaves triangular-lanceolate, 0.75--1.4 mm; costa
often well developed, sometimes absent; cells smooth or low-prorulose at
distal ends abaxially, firm-walled, becoming shorter, broader and
thinner-walled toward the insertion; alar cells not differentiated. Seta 0.8--2.3 cm, twisted. Capsule 0.7--1.1 mm; annulus of 1--3
rows of elongate thick-walled cells, falling early; operculum
conic-apiculate; endostome with a smooth or obscurely roughened basal
membrane, segments finely papillose, cilia finely papillose, in groups of
1--2. Spores 11--19 \um. Calyptra naked or with a few hairs. Common lowland weed, wide range of substrates, especially
dead wood, mesic forests; 0--100 m; The often dense, soft mats of smallish, prostrate,
subcomplanate-foliate plants with ovate leaves whose cells are prorulose at
both ends will readily distinguish Chryso-hypnum
diminutivum. It is extremely common throughout the West Indies and
northern South America at all but the highest elevations, but barely makes it
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